Why Are My Ramshorn Snails Turning White – What To Do About It

Last Updated on January 15, 2022 by cmoarz

Why are my ramshorns snails turning white, and What does it mean when your snail turns white? And once you figure out why it’s happening, What do you do about it?

This article will discuss what to do for a snail that has turned white, and some of the possible reasons why it is turning white.

Why are my ramshorn snails turning white?

So you have a bunch of ramshorn snails in your tank, everything seems fine. You go about life as usual until one day you notice that one or more of your snails has turned white.

The first thing you’d probably want to know is why are my ramshorn snails turning white? You may be able to relate it to something that happened recently, and you might even try and think back and wonder what might have caused this change in coloration.

There are actually a few reasons this can happen, a most common reason and a less common reason.

The most common reason is shell deterioration and erosion. The shells deteriorate and erode due to water parameters.

Acidic low pH water (below 6.5) can cause calcium shells to erode. This removes the brown coating on the top of the shell and shows the white calcium underneath.

Aquariums with high C02 levels will also have this issue. Especially if you are injecting C02 for your plants to consume and grow quicker as c02 increases the acidity in the water.

The fix: Increase your tank’s pH level with calcium stones, crushed coral, crushed oyster shells, etc.

Be sure your ramshorns are getting adequate levels of calcium in their diet to replenish the lost shell.

The second most common reason: Old age and Shell damage. As your snails get older, more and more scratches will have accumulated, slowly stripping away the snail’s outer layer of the shell.

Some snails just naturally also become more white as they age.

There is a chance your snail may have been injured. If the snail was injured, it will take a while for the damaged area of the shell to fill in with calcium and heal over.

When snail has a broken or damaged shell, they are more susceptible to illness and disease due to weakened immune systems from stress caused by an injury which in turn can cause even greater whitening of the shell.

The fix: Add proper snail food to the aquarium that has plenty of calcium. Avoid anything with vitamin D added to it as that’s made for reptiles, not snails.

You should also add cuddle bones to the water so the snails can get a bit more calcium from the bone as well as it will dissolve into the water column and help increase the pH levels and add calcium into the water.

It’s dying: Not the options people want to hear the most of, But it does happen. When a snail gets old or dies, its shell turns white. Although you will most likely know right away when your snail has died, you may not realize it had died before it turns white.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, No matter what caused your ramshorn to turn white, it’s almost always going to be a calcium deficiency issue. The best way to fix these problems is by making sure you have a healthy amount of calcium in the snail’s diet.

Watch your water parameters and make sure their diet is balanced with calcium, vitamin supplements for snails.

In the event that you do find out why your Ramshorn Snail turned white, be sure you take care of it.